Such timepieces have been known for a long time, in particular within the field of so-called complicated watches such as repeater watches or grand strike watches. For better comprehension of the state of the art within the field of complicated watches, reference can be made to the work of François Lecoultre entitled “Les montres compliquées” (ISBN 2-88175-000-1), which comprises in particular several chapters relating to watches fitted with a striking mechanism (pages 97 to 205).
Among watches with striking mechanisms, the grand strike watch comprises an automatic strike release mode. Thus, the motion work drives in rotation a star-shaped release cam with four arms that is provided for cooperating with the release lever so as to wind it and release it in succession, at a determined instant, which releases the striking mechanism via the click.
One drawback of this type of mechanism is that the energy used for winding the release lever is directly taken from the timepiece movement since it is the force from the release cam that winds the release lever. Consequently, there is less energy available for driving the timepiece movement members. Moreover, the mechanism stresses applied by the striking mechanism on the timepiece movement, via the release cam, can have a detrimental effect on the timepiece movement, on its accuracy and on its longevity.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome these problems in a simple and reliable manner.